France Testing tomorrow

Yes, your Pass would show invalid when scanned. The pharmacie doesn't force you to do anything, but the French government wants a PCR for sequencing purposes. For your Pass and the government, your 10 days start on the day of your PCR, so do it quickly, the same day. Everyone who is negative can catch the flight.

It's extremely rare to have a false positive, unlike a false negative. No, you are not supposed to retest; you'd have to keep isolating for 10 days each time because the virus stays in your system beyond the ten days. Both the US and France say not to retest. This is one of the biggest misconceptions people have that you just keep retesting until you get the score you need.

France doesn't follow the latest declarations of the CDC and makes its own rules, so with the exception of healthcare workers on the job in France, isolation is 10 days for everybody else. A representative from the French health service will call you to be sure you ahve everything you need and understand the rules for your 10-days of isolation. You can get CDC clearance to fly to the US on the 11th day and thereafter with a medical letter. The Pass, really the QR code on the positive test result, becomes valid when scanned on the 11th day. My husband's was a little longer for some reason, perhaps the weekend. See my account of what happens with a positive test result: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/covid19/positive-test-flying-to-the-states-what-do-you-do-personal-experience

Hi Stephanie,
I can't speak for what happens in France. But while I was travelling in Mexico in October, I was one of those false positive test people. I had no symptoms, so I asked them to re-test. They did and it was negative. As Bets mentioned, it is rare. But also as someone that lived through it, I know it happens. I think it will depend a bit on how it goes. If one person test positive and no one else and no one has symptoms, then sure re-test that one person. Good luck on your tests and travel back!

The PCR done the same day would be the second test and would refute or confirm the antigen test. I've done two in France, both times results arrived the same day.

Thank you!
Bets, I had seen your earlier post about getting the PCR test ASAP after a positive antigen test to start the 10 day clock. I wasn’t completely clear if an antigen test (or only PCR) can make the pass go dead…but it sounds like it does. I guess with some of the recent data with the new omicron variant, I had just seen that antigen tests are often positive for a short 4-5 day window and thought it might be a potential way to get home quicker (rather than having to wait until Day 11). Sounds like that strategy may not work. Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Yes, anyone negative can leave. If they stay, they aren't isolated unless (until) they are positive.

With the Delta, it's believed fully-vaccinated people are contagious for 6 days though isolation is 10. I've seen no info on how long the virus stays in your nose with the Omicron. It's certainly another avenue if the virus leaves the nasal passages more quickly.

I was flying from Montpellier to CDG to the US, so my Pass was scanned at the MPL airport. My CDC attestation at CDG boarding.

Here are the unknowns:
Would a second test at 5 days get your Pass reversed back to valid? I hope someone tries and reports. You are supposed to be isolated inside, so I don't know how going outside for another test before the required isolation period ends would be viewed. And if you use an American proctored test and test negative the second time? That's another avenue for someone to do and report back.
Are Passes scanned when checking in directly at CDG?

France is under the same staffing and financial pressure as the US, so isolation time could change one day. The only other consideration is whether the isolation time on the CDC page giving instructions for flying to the US has changed or not. Has that CDC page been changed to state "beginning with the 6th day" yet? Just checked. It states "10 days."

Great questions, Bets! I saw that there is supposed to be a French announcement at the end of this week regarding quarantines and close contacts.

“Are Passes scanned when checking in directly at CDG?”

My pass was not scanned in Oct when I left from CDG. They looked at my negative test result and passport at the Delta check in counter but that was it.

. I wasn’t completely clear if an antigen test (or only PCR) can make the pass go dead…

Yes, any positive test result will « kill » a health pass.

(As well it should!! It's the whole point of the pass.)

The official recommendation is that if you test positive on an antigen test, you should have a PCR test performed. Your health pass will be disabled for the isolation period. The PCR test afterward is for variant screening purposes more than anything. If you take the PCR test in the morning, you will usually have it by the evening. Test results are fast in France. The isolation period is still ten days, testing negative at day 5 doesn't change the isolation period. Delta is around 69% of the cases nationally, but much lower at 33% in Paris. Omicron the rest, so quite high in Paris. 2% of Parisians have tested positive in the last 7 days but in reality it's higher.
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Here is what you should do if you test positive and what should theoretically happen with the French health authorities.
https://www.ameli.fr/paris/assure/covid-19/symptomes-gestes-barrieres-cas-contact-et-isolement/en-cas-de-test-positif-au-covid-19

The risk of a false positive is very low. By French law, the rapid antigen tests have to have a (theoretical) minimum sensitivity of 80% and a minimum specificity of 99%. This means a 20% chance of a false negative and a 1% chance of a false positive. The ones on the market are much better than this, though. I took one today that has a (theoretical) sensitivity of 98.13% and a specificity of 100%. This would equate to a 1.87% false negative rate and a 0% false-positive rate. Real-life values are lower if you are asymptomatic or further along in the infection (and anecdotally in my experience, if you're vaccinated). Because the government pays for many of these tests, they have demanded better ones over time so what you have are tests that have low false negatives and extremely low to zero false positives.

If you test positive you are very likely positive.

Rapid tests for self use are readily available at every pharmacy in France. The maximum price is set by law (5.20) with prices generally around 3.80-4.90. There is a reason that these tests are very popular (the health pass issue). In any case, if you test positive at the pharmacy buy a few for testing while you're isolating for your own peace of mind.

While there were 208,000 cases yesterday, these are from administered/reported tests. Because self-tests are readily available, it's higher in reality. The prime minister said that 10% of the population are close contacts (ie 6 million people). A close contact is not someone you pass by.

In case anyone reading this isn't aware, Paris now has a mask mandate everywhere from Friday (including outdoors) for those over 11. The prime minister has described the case situation as an 'avalanche' and the health minister has said that it is a 'tsunami' of cases and that France has 'never experienced such a situation'. I would expect further measures if the hospitalization rate rises.

Stéphanie, After all that, did everyone ace the test?

Hi! Yes, super happy to report back that all 4 of us were negative on the tests. In case others are following this post, it was difficult to find a pharmacy in Rouen for antigen testing. Either they were already booked with no availability for several days or were out of tests. It took us about 8 pharmacies to find one…we were almost about to give up and head to the Paris airport for testing.

Oh my....very happy you all came out negative but yikes to the issues with getting the test done in Rouen! Maybe the smaller places are overwhelmed.

For anyone reading this and still in the planning stages, it might be better to do the last couple of days in Paris where the tests are pretty easy to come by.

From watching the news, I think it’s quite possible that demand for antigen testing has risen sharply in Paris too, thereby making it more difficult to find testing options even there. With Omicron, travel, and the fêtes de ms fin de l’année , lots more locals are seeking tests than has been the case.

Stephanie, I am so glad you all passed your tests ! Safe travels home

Thanks for all your well-wishes and input (on this thread and previous planning ones). Happy New Year everyone :)

We just got tested in Paris yesterday (sitting in CDG as I type - so we were all negative). We were staying in Montmartre and the nearby pharmacy was able to test us with no line (we went at 9:00 AM).

I can also confirm that they did not check our Pass Sanitaire at the airport. They only looked at our VeriFly passes to confirm a negative test.

My husband and daughter are currently sitting in an airbnb with positive results from an antigen test on the 30th. No one has contacted them, and they weren't told to get PCR tests. I really hope the clock does not start over for them!!!! Good gracious. I think they should re-test with an antigen test tomorrow and see what happens.